# Who are we? Where do we come from? 

I’m sure we can all agree when saying, this have been two of THE questions we have asked ourselves as a species. 

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There are several creation myths around the world and even cult leaders always seem to have these two questions answered. However the two most popular theories concerning our origins are: The theory of evolution, created by Darwin and story of Adam an Eve of the Israelites (and of course later adapted by Christians and Muslims).   

This article is not trying to answer these questions nor is it trying to prove or disprove any of the theories. This text is just a few observations on some interesting piece of data, that recently came into my knowledge. 

Few weeks ago, I was talking to my dad about this DNA tests you can make, you know where you spit into a little tube, you send the tube by mail, you wait a couple weeks and bam! You get your results showing your ancestry genealogy… gota love the times we live in! 

I was glad my dad is thinking of doing that test, I do find it extremely interesting and I want to do it myself. Not only to know which parts of the world my people walk in… but it also to put things into perspective… I mean is like having a physical evidence of how lucky you are… an evidence showing us the odds of you being here.  

Have you ever wondered about that?… How lucky you are for being here?

Let’s have a quick look at precisely that:

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# Quick Calculation on the Odds of you Being Alive! 

Not only your mother and father had to meet at that exact time and place, but they had to stick together for a while and make you. The odds of that happening, plus of the right sperm getting into the right egg are calculated at around one in 400 quadrillion. That’s 1 in 400, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000. 

Impressive numbers but one could argue that’s even a conservative calculation. 

Then if you take that data and add the fact that this had to happen with all of your ancestors, all the time, and they all had to live long enough to get to reproductive age … 

The odds of you existing are actually … are you ready for this? 

One in 10(2,685,000).  That’s 10  with 2,685,000 zeros next to it. (Just to give you an idea there are 10(80)  atoms in the known universe. )

So for you to be born, you had to beat a 1 in 10 (2,685,000) odds. And again in my opinion this is an conservative estimate. And if you consider being born right now and being able to read this in a computer with internet connection… 

All this to say … you are indeed a miracle… 

You might want to think about that the next time you’re stressing about your late being a bit cold. 

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# But back to the theme being discussed. 

So yeah, I would like to know where I come from. From where do all of this people, to whom I own so much, come from.

However I’ve never really looked at this DNA tests carefully. So after this talk with my dad I had a look at it and what I found led me to write this article.  

I found Science saying we all came from Adam and Eve… yeah real science not creationists trying to make a point. 

This was fascinating for me. I come from a catholic country and I did first and second grade in a catholic school, so I’m a bit familiar with the story of creation… The main point that I always found easily “mockable”  is the fact that one woman gave birth to “all of us”. I mean… come on, that has to be a metaphor or a fairy tale or whatever… But now I see science saying that that’s actually the case?

What is going on? 

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# Here’s what science says: 

We can trace back the DNA from any man, back to one man called:  "Y-Chromosomal Adam” and we can trace the DNA from anyone back to one female called: “Mitochondrial Eve?"
 
# Genealogy for Dummies - Crash Course:

You might ask *”What are Y-Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve?”*

Like we just saw, they are the names given to the male and female ancestors to whom we can trace back our heritage. 

We have 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of those pairs is called the sex chromosome because they determine the gender of the person. 

Females have two X chromosomes and Males have an X and a Y chromosome. Girls get on X from their mother and one X from their father. Boys get the X form their mother and the Y only from their father. This is how scientists trace male ancestry. 

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# Why does science says this?

In 1995, the journal “Science” published a study where they analysed the Y chromosome of 28 men from different ethnic groups. The results showed no variation at all … 

The conclusion? At some point in time our specie suffered a genetic bottleneck. After more research was done, we came to the conclusion that every man alive comes from the same men… the “Y-Chromosomal Adam”.  

With the Mitochondrial Eve it’s even more interesting. Y chromosomes are only passed from father to son, however mitochondrial-DNA is passed down from mother to both son and daughter. (Mitochondrial-DNA is the maternal lineage, since it is only passed down by the mother and never by the father) 

So, scientist concluded that every living human’s genealogy, can be traced back to a single woman… the “Mitochondrial Eve” 

While Y-Chromosomal Adam is believed to be the ancestor of every living man, Mitochondrial Eve is believed to be the mother of all living humans, male and female.

I would say this is very interesting. 

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It’s well worth to note, that this is not proving the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Nor are most scientists trying to do such a thing. 

Nor it proves that Y-Chromosomal Adam was the only man alive at the time… nor that Mitochondrial Eve was the only woman at the time…  

The dates are also up for debate, most people say they lived a few thousands years apart… 

But all of this are details and debates… I’ll let you draw your conclusions. 

The point is, at least according to our current scientific tools, the current consencus is that all living beings came from the same woman…

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So to answer the question “Is science telling us we come from Adam and Eve?” … well… yes it is!

It’s not saying the genesis chapter is authentic nor is it even referencing it… but at this point, science is telling us that we came from this couple… a Man and a Woman… called Adam and Eve…

Some food for thought.  

What do you think of all of this?

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As always, thank you for reading.

Photos (except Logo) from Pixabay.com